Had a great time stopping by the Broward ARC meeting in Ft.Lauderdale last night; met a great bunch of very friendly hams there.

Even though reciprocal agreements between US & Canada allow VE3 hams to operate, I though it may be a good idea to attempt a US amateur license exam and obtain a callsign from FCC given the opportunity. So I showed up at 6:30pm at the club, and then wrote and successfully passed both Technician and General exams.

Each exam was only 35 multiple-choice questions (fairly easy ones compared to the Canadian Basic exam). To pass, 26 correct answers were required. There was one question I didn’t have answer for – how many hams are required by FCC to open a club. I guessed 3 and the right answer was 4.

There was not much time left to attempt the final Extra exam this time, plus I was not preparing for it, so will probably give it a try next time.

Now having the exam papers submitted to FCC, a random sequential callsign is to be allocated within 15 days.

Great ops and good band conditions make it happen. Just a week after a 1,200 miles per watt QSO, there is now a 4,732 miles per watt QRP QSO with Massimo KH6ZM in beautiful Hawaii (Grid: BK29ik).

2016-03-08

03:57

KH6ZM

40m

7.054

CW

BK29ik

Hawaii

MASSIMO A ZENOBI

Massimo used a kW into a 2-el Yagi but received me on a beverage antenna with cascaded preamps. He was coming 599 into Florida on my 7′ long mobile 40m hamstick. My 1 watt across 4,732 miles landed a 559 report and encouraging comments.